Sensex dives 516 points, Nifty ends at 7603 post RBI policy

The Sensex shed 516.06 points to 24883.59 and the Nifty fell 155.60 points to 7603.20. About two shares declined for every share advancing on BSE.

ICICI Bank, Infosys, Tata Motors, SBI, Adani Ports and L&T were top five contributors to Sensex's fall, down 2-6 percent while only Lupin closed in green.

3:20 pm RBI's new guidelines soon: Concerned over rising bad loans, the Reserve Bank will soon come out with a draft framework on large exposure of bank loans to corporates.

"Taking into account the views and suggestions from stakeholders on the discussion paper on 'Large Exposures Framework and Enhancing Credit Supply through Market Mechanism', a fresh discussion paper will be issued by April 30, 2016 on large borrowers meeting part of their funding requirements from markets," RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said.

A draft circular on the Large Exposures Framework will be issued for public comments in June 2016, which is to be implemented by January 1, 2019, he said, after unveiling the first bi-monthly monetary policy review for 2016-17.

In order to promote start-ups in the country, RBI will also release norms with respect to deferred payment.

The company has garnered Rs 75.3 crore by selling 17.7 lakh equity shares of Relaxo Footwears through a block deal on National Stock Exchange. It sold shares at Rs 425 apiece in previous session.

On the other side, Jwalamukhi Investment Holdings was the buyer, who purchased 18.66 lakh shares of Relaxo.

Before this block deal, VLS was the major public shareholder in the company.

2:35 pm NSE mock trading: Leading bourse National Stock Exchange (NSE) will conduct mock as well as live trading sessions from its disaster recovery site. The mock trading will be conducted on April 9 while live trading will be on April 11 and April 12, NSE said in a circular. The exchange has an advanced arrangement to avoid any form of change or interruption in future.

A disaster recovery (DR) site is necessary for all critical institutions like exchanges so that operations can be done seamlessly and smoothly if any extraneous event affects the functioning of the main trading centre in Mumbai. The exchange has asked its members "to participate actively in the mock trading session to check the connectivity and avoid login problems in live trading sessions from DR site".

2:30 pm HAL turnover at record high: Defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) today said its turnover surged to an all-time high of Rs 16,524 crore for fiscal 2015-16. Besides, the company's exports stood at Rs 401 crore for the year.

"It is an all-time high with PBT (profit before tax) standing at Rs 3,210 crore for the year," HAL Chairman and Managing Director T Suvarna Raju said in a company release.

The company had achieved a turnover of Rs 15,622 crore for fiscal 2014-15 and PBT of Rs 3,173 crore. He said all 12 Su-30 MKI aircraft produced during the year were from raw material phase, while production of 17 Hawk aircraft is the highest ever achieved in a year.

"RBI actions today are very welcome. Obviously we believe that the rate cut which has been effective would be very good stimulus for the economy," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha told reporters here.

The Reserve Bank in its first bi-monthly monetary policy review today cut interest rate by 0.25 percent and introduced a host of measures to smoothen liquidity supply so that banks can lend to the productive sectors and indicated accommodative stance going ahead.

"Some of the banks have already reset their interest rates taking into account the marginal cost of lending and done some amount of reduction of rates consequent to all these measures and consequent to RBI's announcement today the banks will perhaps need to do some more transmission of reduction of policy rates of RBI," Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said.

In her major policy address, Lagarde said overall, the global outlook has weakened further over the last six months exacerbated by China's relative slowdown, lower commodity prices and the prospect of financial tightening for many countries.

Emerging markets had largely driven the recovery and the expectation was that the advanced economies would pick up the "growth baton".

"That has not happened," the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director said in her address 'Decisive action to secure durable growth' at Goethe University, Frankfurt in Germany.

While emerging markets are a very diverse group, the story is broadly similar. China's transition to a more sustainable economic model which is good for China and the world means that its growth rate, while still strong, is lower. Downturns in Brazil and Russia are larger than expected, she said.

1:50 pm Oil falls: Oil prices extended losses from the previous two sessions on weakening demand for gasoline and on concerns the global crude glut could persist for some time.

Front month US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at USD 35.31 per barrel, down 39 cents from their last settlement. International Brent futures were down 33 cents at USD 37.36 a barrel.

1:45 pm Europe under pressure: European markets were trading sharply lower today, as oil price volatility continued to weigh on markets worldwide and investors digested a raft of new data from the euro zone.

London's FTSE 100 was some 1 percent lower, while the French CAC slipped 1.9 percent and Germany's DAX tumbled some 2 percent.

1:40 pm More rate cut likely?: Following the exemplary fiscal rectitude displayed by the government in its FY17 Budget, RBI's 25 bps cut in the repo rate and the shift in stance towards neutral money market liquidity conditions is a testament of synchronous policy support, says Rana Kapoor, MD and CEO, Yes Bank.

1:35 pm Call drop case: In a follow-up to the call drop case, Attorney General today said it will conduct a meeting with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) officials and Telecom Ministry members.

The meeting is scheduled for April 9 and April 10.

Supreme Court, in its last meet, had questioned TRAI over amending the call drop mechanism as the latter, in a technical paper, had said that all call drops cannot be attributed to telecom companies.

The possible solution over call drops might be taken post this meeting.

1:25 pm Buzzing: Shares of oil marketing companies rose by up to 3 percent today after petrol price was hiked by Rs 2.19 a litre and diesel by 98 paise per litre on Monday.

Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 61.87 per litre as against Rs 59.68 currently, said Indian Oil Corporation, the nation's biggest fuel retailer.

Similarly, a litre of diesel will cost Rs 49.31 compared with Rs 48.33 at present.

State-owned fuel retailers IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) revise rates of the fuel on 1st and 16th of every month based on the average oil price and the foreign exchange rate in the preceding fortnight.

1:20 pm Car, home loans to be cheap: Home, auto and other loans are set to become cheaper with RBI today reducing the short-term lending rate by 0.25 percent to over 5-year low of 6.5 percent, taking the total cut to 1.5 percent since January last year.

Unveiling the first bi-monthly monetary policy for the current fiscal, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said banks have already cut interest rates by 0.25-0.5 percent and after today's rate cut borrowings will become cheaper further.

"Borrowing is cheaper...and will continue to do so," the Governor said, adding that the introduction of marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) system will improve monetary policy transmission.

1:10 pm Environmental nod: State-owned ONGC has received green nod for its Rs 350-crore project of drilling 22 exploratory wells in NELP-9 blocks located at Banaskantha, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad districts of Gujarat.

According to the proposal, wells would be drilled in blocks CB-CNN-2010/1, 6 and 9, which were awarded to ONGC way back in March 2012 through the NELP-9 bidding process.

The petroleum exploratory licence to start the activities as per the production sharing contract (PSC) was granted in February 2013. The initial contract period is seven years.

"Based on the views of the expert appraisal committee (EAC), the Union environment ministry has given environmental clearance to the ONGC drilling project in Gujarat subject to strict compliance of specific and general conditions," a senior government official said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex slipped 405.70 points or 1.60 percent to 24993.95 and 50-share NSE Nifty tanked 119.45 points or 1.54 percent to 7639.35. More than two shares declined for every share advancing on BSE.

Lupin shares gained more than 1 percent intraday after its US subsidiary, Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc has launched the first product from its GAVIS pipeline, Zolpidem Sublingual tablets 1.75 mg & 3.5 mg in the US. The drug is indicated for use as needed for the treatment of insomnia when a middle-of-the-night awakening is followed by difficulty returning to sleep.

Biocon rallied 7 percent as Morgan Stanley has upgraded its rating on the stock to overweight from underweight and raised target price to Rs 622 (from Rs 459 earlier), saying 2016 could be a turning point for the biopharmaceutical company. The brokerage sees Biocon as a strong re-rating story given that markets have hardly priced in its biosimilar pipeline.

Zolpidem Sublingual tablets are AB-rated generic equivalent of Purdue Pharma L.P'sIntermezzo Sublingual tablets and is indicated for use as needed for the treatment of insomnia when a middle-of-the-night awakening is followed by difficulty returning to sleep.

PAL, founded in 2007, is a part of the Panalfa Group, a major original equipmentmanufacturer of automotive systems and components in India.

PAL manufactures reduction gear starter motors and alternators as per latest international technology and quality standards under the Panalfa brand. It caters to the agriculture machinery, stationary engine, construction equipment and automotive markets globally.

Key customers of PAL include Eicher, Escorts, Greaves, HMT, Magneton, New Holland, Polaris, Sonalika and TAFE. Total cost of acquisition is about Rs 45.5 crore.

The approved ANDA is bioequivalent and therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug product (RLD) Polymyxin B for Injection USP, 500,000 units/vial of Eurohealth International Sarl.

Polymyxin B for Injection is an Anti-Infective used in the treatment of infections of the urinary tract, meninges, bloodstream and eye caused by susceptible strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

12:20 pm Economist on RBI policy: Shubhada Rao of Yes Bank says, "The policy sounds dovish. Greater focus is on liquidity management, more importantly the commenatry is clearly guiding on further rate cuts, with four riders, namely: good monsoon, low headline CPI, softening core CPI and improving rate transmission. On these four parameters further rate cuts would play out."

12:10 pm Sugar exports halt: India's sugar exports have come to a halt as dealers have not signed new contracts in the past five days after local prices surged on expectations of lower output, trade sources said.

India, the world's biggest sugar producer after Brazil, has contracted to export 1.6 million tonnes since the season began on October 1. Dealers have shipped out 1.3 million tonnes so far.

Local prices have surged nearly 8 percent in the past 10 days after India, also the world's top consumer of the sweetener, cut its output estimate by 1.4 percent from an earlier forecast. Output is expected to fall this season after six straight years of surplus production.

The government was instrumental in persuading mills to agree to a target of 3.2 million tonnes of sugar exports in 2015/16. With forecasts of lower output and higher local prices, traders say India may not be able to meet its export target.

12:05 pm Finance ministry on RBI policy: The Indian government's cash balance is expected to "even out" in the coming weeks, a top finance ministry official said today, after the central bank unveiled steps to ensure more availability of cash in the banking system.

The Reserve Bank of India cut its policy interest rate by a quarter percentage point on Tuesday, reducing it to a more than five-year low. It also reduced the cash proportion of daily reserve requirements that banks must keep with it, while pledging to inject more long-term liquidity.

Shaktikanta Das, economic affairs secretary in the finance ministry, said the central bank's move on interest rates will help in transforming India into a low-cost economy.

The Sensex tanked 363.81 points or 1.43 percent to 25035.84 and the Nifty plunged 106.45 points or 1.37 percent at 7652.35. More than two shares declined for every share advancing on Bombay Stock Exchange.

11:47 am Growth recovery likely in FY17: According to Reserve Bank, the uneven recovery in growth in 2015-16 is likely to strengthen gradually into 2016-17, assuming a normal monsoon, the likely boost to consumption demand from the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations and OROP, and continuing monetary policy accommodation.

11:45 am Rate cut transmission: RBI says the reduction in small savings rates announced in March 2016, the substantial refinements in the liquidity management framework announced in this policy review and the introduction of the marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) should improve transmission and magnify the effects of the current policy rate cut.

The stance of monetary policy will remain accommodative, it adds.

11:43 am RBI brought down repo rate to 6.5 percent level for the first time since 2011.

11:42 am Going forward, the Reserve Bank intends to first meet requirements of durable liquidity, and then use its fine-tuning operations to make short term liquidity conditions consistent with the intended policy stance.

11:40 am RBI says in addition to recently licensed differentiated banks such as payments banks and small finance banks, the Reserve Bank will explore the possibilities of licensing other differentiated banks such as custodian banks and banks concentrating on whole-sale and long-term financing.

11:37 am NBFCs process simplifies: In order to make the process of registration of new NBFCs smoother and hassle free, RBI has been decided to simplify and rationalise the process of registering new NBFCs. The new application forms will be simpler and the number of documents required to be submitted will be reduced to a minimum, it says.

11:35 am RBI say its second bi-monthly monetary policy statement will be announced on June 7, 2016.

11:33 am Asia Update: Asia markets fell, as pressure from a decline in oil prices pushed US equities lower overnight. Japan's Nikkei 225 was off by 2.48 percent, while across the Korean Strait, the Kospi was lower by 0.69 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was lower by 1.43 percent while China gained 1.5 percent.

11:31 am The Reserve Bank will publish Vision 2018 for the payment and settlement systems in the country by end-April 2016.

"Vision 2018 will continue to focus on migrating to a ''less-cash'' and more digital society. The endeavour would be to make regulations more responsive to technological developments and innovations in the payments space," it says.

11:15 am The reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 6 percent, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate to 7 per cent. The Bank Rate which is aligned to the MSF rate also stands adjusted to 7 percent, says RBI.

11:12 am RBI says it narrowed the policy rate corridor from +/-100 basis points (bps) to +/- 50 bps by reducing the MSF rate by 75 basis points and increasing the reverse repo rate by 25 basis points, with a view to ensuring finer alignment of the weighted average call rate (WACR) with the repo rate.

10:45 am Interview: NTPC board has approved investment in two solar projects with an estimated cost of Rs 3,104 crore, said AK Jha, Director-Technical at NTPC in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

One of the two projects, situated in Rajasthan, has 260 MW capacity with 4 blocks of 65 MW each. The second project is located in Madhya Pradesh with 5 blocks of 50 MW each. Both projects are expected to be commissioned by March 2017, he said.

Jha also added that the company plans to ramp-up its own solar capacity to 10 GW by FY22.

10:35 am Buzzing: Morgan Stanley has upgraded its rating on Biocon to overweight from underweight and raised target price to Rs 622 (from Rs 459 earlier), saying 2016 could be a turning point for the biopharmaceutical company. The stock surged more than 7 percent intraday.

The brokerage sees Biocon as a strong re-rating story given that markets have hardly priced in its biosimilar pipeline.

It believes that company's (and its partner Mylan) four potential product filings each in the US and EU would add credibility to its pipeline and bring market recognition. Emerging market monetisation is under way, but the US and EU opportunities will take at least two years, according to report.

Four lead compounds of Biocon are glargine, trastuzumab, pegfilgrastim, and adalimumab.

10:15 am Maruti sales network: Maruti Suzuki India has officially announced that it intends to double its existing sales network by 2020.

Currently, the dealer network of India's largest carmaker comprises of 1,820 traditional dealerships spread across 1,470 cities. The company is planning to add another 200 dealerships in the current fiscal which will increase the total number to over 2,000.

The carmaker expects that increasing sales network will help them in attaining their goal of selling 20 lakh units by 2020.

10:00 am Market CheckThe market continued to see selling pressure with the Sensex falling 108.77 points to 25290.88 and the Nifty declining 36.70 points to 7722.10 ahead of first monetary policy of the RBI in financial year 2016-17. The broader markets too were down with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices slipping 0.2 percent each.

The market breadth was weak as about 916 shares declined against 732 advancing shares on Bombay Stock Exchange.

9:50 am Interview: Kiri Industries earlier this morning announced that it has executed agreements to settle all of its debt by the end of fiscal year 2016.

The total borrowings have been reduced to Rs 410.6 crore from 853.1 crore last year and the company plans to further reduce its borrowings by Rs 250 crore in FY17, says Manish Kiri, MD of Kiri Industries.

Commenting on the price hike of hydrochloric acid and other chemicals, he said that the main reason for this is the shutdown of major chemical factories in China and this is not a permanent rally.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, he said that the company expects revenue to be around Rs 1000 crore in FY16 and sees FY17 revenue to be in the range of Rs 1200-1300 crore if the price hike stays for a minimum of 6 months.

9:35 am IPO opens: Equitas Holdings, the micro finance lender, has opened its public issue for subscription with a price band of Rs 109-110 per share. It is the first and biggest public issue of FY17.

The company aims to raise nearly Rs 2,200 crore (at higher end of issue price band) through public issue. It already raised Rs 652 crore from 16 anchor investors by selling 5.92 crore equity shares at a price of Rs 110 apiece on Monday.

The Indian rupee has opened marginally lower at 66.25 a dollar compared to 66.20 a dollar in previous session.

Ashutosh Raina, HDFC Bank said the RBI is widely expected to cut rates by 0.25 percent in the monetary policy later today, adding communication from policy makers will be keenly watched by the market participants.

According to him, USD-INR pair is approaching the lower end of the Rs 66-67/USD band with decent portfolio flows coupled with strong intervention keeping it in a tight range.